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The festive season is supposed to be one marked by joy, giving, and quality time with family and loved ones. It shouldn’t have to be accompanied by stress over gift-buying, worries that you’ve blown your budget, wounded feelings from forgotten parties you double-booked yourself for or awkward obligatory thanks for ill-chosen presents.
Here, we’ve put together a simple guide to hopefully, make the holidays a little less stressful. But first, make yourself a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows, put on some Christmas music, and get comfy as you plan your way to a stress-free holiday season!

Step 1 – Decide what the season means to you. List down your priorities in order. A family vacation, visits to in-laws / siblings / parents, a year-end wedding, planning a Christmas party, donating gifts to a children’s shelter, and buying gifts for nephews / nieces are some examples you might list down. Don’t sweat trying to keep up with everything, but focus on what’s important to you.

Step 2 – Create a holiday planner. If you’re the techy type, set up a folder on your computer or use an app like Springpad to get organised. If you’re the doodling type, use a paper folder to get all your notes / lists / receipts in place. Divide your folder into sections so you have a record of everything that’s going on in preparing for that office party or your child’s Christmas school play.

Step 3 – Draw up a budget. When deciding what you need to do / buy, the first consideration should be exactly how much you need to spend, so you don’t go overboard with all the festivity. Based on your list of priorities, allocated your estimated expenditure accordingly, then stick to it!

Step 4 – Compile a checklist of things to do. Include deadlines and contact information in your to-do list to get the most out of it, so that at one glance you can see exactly what you need to do, by when, and whom you need to contact / where you need to go instead of scrambling around to find the information from different places.

Step 5 – Print out handy note cards you can take along anywhere. If cooking is going to be a big part of your activities, print out recipe cards you can stick at convenient locations in the kitchen so you can easily refer to them. Or print out lists of people you need to get presents for, so anytime you spot a good deal while out shopping, you can run through your list to see whom it might make a good gift for.Step 6 – Beat the rush. Now that you’re all organised and know what needs to be done, do it! Getting a head-start saves a lot of time, stress, and possibly even money. Before the holiday season fully kicks in, things you want to get done are: get the bulk of present-shopping done, event venues booked, any repairs done around the house, packages / cards sent overseas, and even personal grooming like getting a new hairdo to avoid the long queues (and sometimes higher prices) that come with the holiday season.

Armed with this simple guide, we hope that you will be able to create a stress-free festive season, filled with plenty of fun, feasting, and fond memories!